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Transforming with a Flip-Flop

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Strange title above…I know, right? But, after looking below, you’ll see why I chose that title.

We were on the island of Murano. Murano is one of many islands in the Venetian lagoon…it is one of the closest and most active. Murano is the island where centuries ago, the glass foundries were exiled because of fire danger in the main part of Venice. So yes, we were on Murano to purchase Venetian blown glass. But, that’s another story.


The Snapshot

After lunch, we wandered a bit on our way to the vaporetto stop for our return to Venice proper. Here is what I saw and photographed along the way. It’s just an average snapshot…a bit skewed, with a whole lot of blah. But, I liked the potential for symetry.


Step 1

My plan was to work the potential symmetry into the final version of the photo. So, here is step 1, which is to duplicate the left side of the photo and to use it replace the right side of the photo, as you see here. This is the ‘flip-flop’ aspect of this transformation. Then there are those darned electrical conduits and hanging wires…poof, and they’re gone.


Step 2

Obviously, I don’t want a complete replacement where it is obvious that I just flipped one side to the other. So, I removed one of the planters at the right edge of the photo, removed a shadow, and removed the mailbox on the left wall. The flip-flop isn’t so obvious now.


Step 3

The partial windows at the top of the photo, just above the planter box, bother me. So, out they go! And its time to increase the mood of this rainy day afternoon. Darkening the photo helps here. And the arched window shutters were a bit blah, so I worked on them a bit, too.


Final Step

The final step was to provide a bit of lighting here and there to draw focus to the center of the photo. And, since pigeons are the most ubiquitous element of Venice (well, maybe its actually the water), I decided that they needed a bit of illumination, also.


Details

Speaking of those pigeons, here is a closer view. Oh, what a life to be out in the rain. They just seem to fluff up their feathers to get more insulation and then hunker down a bit to endure the afternoon shower.

 

And then there’s that plaque above the shuttered windows. A bird (perhaps a peacock?) attacking a rabbit…that’s the way I see it. What’s that about, anyway?


That’s it for today’s quick transformation. Tune in next week to see where we wind up in the adventure of Italy, Our Italy.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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